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Ottawa enters legal battle over Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline

Ottawa enters legal battle over Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline

Ottawa enters legal battle over Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline
May 11, 2021 1 min, 54 secs

The Canadian government is formally wading into a legal battle over the future of Enbridge Line 5 pipeline, a major cross-border energy conduit for Ontario and Quebec, warning a U.S.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has ordered the pipeline to permanently cease operations by May 12 this week, citing the risk of oil spills and calling it a “ticking time bomb.” After that date, she has warned, Enbridge will be breaking the law.

Calgary-based Enbridge has defied her order and challenged it in court, saying they will not shut down the line, which carries 540,000 barrels per day.

Canada has previous warned it is prepared to invoke the 1977 pipeline transit treaty – which calls for binding arbitration – and in the legal brief Ottawa said it’s already in talks with Washington about its rights under the agreement.

But in 2010, a different pipeline operated by Enbridge, Line 6B, ruptured and released petroleum into a tributary of the Kalamazoo River, becoming one of the largest inland oil spills in U.S.

“The governor of Michigan is trying to shut down Enbridge Line 5, regardless of the outcome of mediation and the court process, in a blatant violation of the Transit Pipelines Treaty that President Joe Biden supported as a senator,” the MPs said.

The Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), a U.S.-based, pro-industry advocacy group, estimated this week that a Line 5 shutdown would cost Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania a combined US$20.8 billion in economic activity and risk some 33,000 jobs.

Whitmer’s decision to shut down Line 5 was a “reckless and arbitrary action,” CEA Midwest executive director Chris Ventura said in a statement.

A shutdown of Line 5 would be bad for the Midwest’s economy and harmful to U.S.-Canadian relations,” he said.

Green Party Leader Annamie Paul however said she backs a shutdown of Line 5 for environmental reasons and said Canada should prepare contingency plans to mitigate the consequences.

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